http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss popemark@mac.com Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:18:20 +0000 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:18:30 +0000 iBlog 1.4.6 Pope The Papal Bull Fascinating information about me, my family, Apple products, my liberal world-view, and lunches with my wife's grandmother. Pope popemark@mac.com The Papal Bull http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20080219081814/index.html There's a light at the end of the tunnel. It is a grey, misty, slightly obscured light. But I believe it is there...
I am leaving Cork Friday morning. I get to go home and see J&J get married in Marlin, TX. After a week in San Francisco, I have one more (short) visit to Cork the first week of March. And then... No. More. Travel. (Booked, at least)
I accepted a job offer that will, in the short term, at least, cut down on my travel significantly. And, in the new role, I really don't see any more of the crazy schedules like I have been on since August. Any trips I make, I foresee being in the one week range, instead of the six-week range.

Since I only have three more days until I check out of my apartment, I have an enormous sense of anticipation and gratitude. I had a moment on Nov 29, when one of my main projects went live in the last stage for that quarter, when I looked back on what the project team had accomplished in the time that I was here. It was significant. And I am having one of these moments now, too, because in December and January, I led another project through kickoff to go live, and it went REALLY well. Last week and this week, I am walking another team through the initial detail workshop sessions for a 6-month project cycle, and the workshops are really productive. I am thinking about how much I love project management, and how much I am going to miss this work. And I can't help but wonder if I will be as good in a new operational role as I am in project management. It will be a learning curve. ]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:18:14 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20080219081814/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071125113609/index.html Sun, 25 Nov 2007 11:36:09 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071125113609/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071104202002/index.html My name is popemark, and I am addicted to buying books. I can't walk past a bookstore without walking in, and I can't walk out of a bookstore without buying 2 or more books. On this trip to Ireland, I have been reading a ton, but I can not keep up with all the books I have already bought and that are sitting on my bedside table.
On the last week-long visit I had to Austin, I made what could have been a mistake and stopped in an airport Hudson Booksellers (I think it was in O'Hare, and I was at risk for completing the one book I took with me in my carry-on; God forbid I might be out of reading material! As it happened, I didn't actually complete that book I already had with me until I was back in Austin). Interestingly enough (to me), I think it is possible Ms Pope worked for some branch of Hudson when we were in Puerto Rico. Not sure. I have to follow up on that.

Anyway, the two books I bought in that desperate foray were The Historian and Whatever, by Michel Houellebecq. Both books turned out to be surprisingly good buys. I wrote about The Historian last week; today, I finished reading Whatever. I was under the misconception that this was a more recent novel of his, but was surprised to discover it had been written in 1998 and he has followed up on his early promise with several more books, all as compellingly interesting (based on published abstracts!) as his debut.

Serpent's Tail (the publisher) did not explicitly compare this novel to Camus, but the implicit connection leavened my interpretation of the novel as I was consuming it. His humor is spot-on, and the dread with which his characters face their unfathomably bleak conditions is, dare I say it, deliciously enjoyable. Click on Read More to see an example passage (and yes, the Title of this blog entry is from the book, as well...). ]]> Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:20:02 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071104202002/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071104192925/index.html The last haircut I got was at Chez Eye-reek, outside, on a sidewalk outside a cabin at Lake Brownwood. And it was great, really great. But that was September 29. I had gotten to the point where I needed another. I had an appointment with Eye-reek at Bô (informal appointment, be it what it may) for this past week, the week I was intending to be back in Austin. Now I am not going back until maybe Nov 14 and there are a ton of executives from California coming in to Ireland this week for product launches Friday. I needed a haircut!

I went downtown yesterday, intending to stop in a bookstore (Don't! Let! Me! Buy! Another! Book!), go to the Quay Co-op, and find a salon where a suitably skilled stylist will see the hidden magic behind my shaggy appearance, give me a knowing and appreciative nod, and set to work with the insouciant confidence of Edward Scissorhands. Immediately after dropping off my car, I was surprised to see one of the trainers from work and a couple of her German students. She had just completed training the Germans on the product we're launching in Germany Friday, and all three of them were in that happy state of exhausted and excited. Gillian heard what I needed and immediately suggested a salon for me (and OMG now that I am writing this, I can not even remember the name -- I even looked through my receipts from yesterday but I didn't keep the receipt since I am not expensing the haircut... Damn!). So, I went to the salon to take an initial walk-by assessment, and it looked acceptably professional. I made an appointment for a little later in the afternoon.

What a mistake. I awoke this morning looking like I had been kidnapped and had my hair abused by a drunken half-blind sadistic leprechaun. ]]> Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:29:25 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071104192925/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071104122611/index.html Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:26:11 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071104122611/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071031091030/index.html When I was reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, I was struck by the thought of the books that feature librarians as brave heroes.

I have to admit that I have a very soft place in my heart for libraries and the clerks and professionals who work in them. I worked in the Business Library at University of Iowa as an undergraduate student, and was very interested in pursuing a career in library science when I received an offer in 1996 from my current employer. In fact, the Papal Consort and I went together to the University of Texas MLS department to review the offerings and course structure. (I like that it is a non-thesis graduate program! :)

So, I came up with a short list of my favorite books where librarians put themselves at risk and save the world with their information retrieval skills!
1) The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
2) Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
3) The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger ]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:10:30 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071031091030/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071031085309/index.html I love Hallowe'en. It may be my favorite holiday of the year... I think it might be a combination of the fascination with getting scared and an unhealthy obsession with mortality. Being in Ireland for the day this year, I do not miss the costumes and candies that are hallmarks of how America observes the day. But I do miss my tradition with Sören, originating with an afternoon spent with Sugar Booger, of going to a graveyard in Austin and having a picnic on the gravesite of a family named "Hello."

In honor of the holiday, I started to read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian while I was in Prague. I finished it Monday night, in a fevered rush to complete the book. It tells the story of a teenaged girl in Amsterdam whose father has a mysterious book that appears to be blank except for a woodcut image of a dragon with a curling tail. That book is the commencement of a perilous compulsive hunt for the truth behind the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler -- Dracula. ]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:53:09 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2043928366/E20071031085309/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071030082239/index.html Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:22:39 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071030082239/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071029082323/index.html Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:23:23 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071029082323/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071020141419/index.html Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:14:19 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071020141419/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071015084114/index.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:41:14 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071015084114/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071008081927/index.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:19:27 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071008081927/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071007222132/index.html I bought tickets to see Mozart's Don Giovanni on a whim yesterday, at the Cork Opera House. I didn't realize that Soren Kierkegaard considered it the most perfect opera ever produced (the things you find out from wikipedia when you just want to get a link for a blog entry), but was interested in doing something besides finding local music in a Cork pub or reading in the apartment.

I had attended a performance at Cork Opera House before - Van Morrison, probably around 2001 or 2002... But I did not remember the details of the design inside. I have to admit, I was not expecting something like the Opera House in Tokyo Opera City or Walt Disney Concert Hall... But I was surprised by how much it resembled a high school auditorium. The stage design did not help matters much, relying heavily on spare low-budget pieces.

But Sandra Oman as Donna Elvira and Majella Cullagh as Donna Anna were both very impressive. And in my morose state of mind, dwelling on the nature of sin and transgression was actually somewhat pleasant! Especially since Leporello does such an able job of presenting an inspiration that this foible-laden spectator could possibly live up to... ]]> Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:21:32 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C246584274/E20071007222132/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071003223516/index.html This item was actually published this summer, but it's more than a little spooky... Lt Walter Haut was a PR officer at the Roswell Army Air Field at the time of the reputed UFO crash. He died in 2006, but left behind a signed affidavit concerning what happened that summer...


Haut died last year but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death.
Last week, the text was released and asserts that the weather balloon claim was a cover story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. 

He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies. 

He wasn't the first Roswell witness to talk about alien bodies.
Local undertaker Glenn Dennis had long claimed that he was contacted by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized coffins.
When he arrived at the base, he was apparently told by a nurse (who later disappeared) that a UFO had crashed and that small humanoid extraterrestrials had been recovered. 

But Haut is the only one of the original participants to claim to have seen alien bodies. ]]> Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:35:16 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071003223516/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071002233241/index.html Bob Mould writes about Radiohead's announcement this week that they will release their next album online, allowing fans to state their own price for the music. Whatever they're willing to pay. Even free.

The Big Bob is basically saying he can't quite ditch the "traditional" model of music distribution yet, but if he could, he throws several variations of a new paradigm out there to ask his fans which they would choose...

Here's three that I have long thought are reasonable. Please be mindful of the following expenditures: studio cost, musician fees, equipment upgrades, rent and utilities, web site maintenance, management, publicist, other professional services. My parts and labor.

Individual songs, $1 - 2
When I finish a song, you are notified by e-mail. You are directed to a secure site, some sort of unique password is generated, and you download the DRM-free file.

Album length release, $10 - 20
When I finish a group of 10 songs, you are notified by e-mail. You are directed to a secure site, some sort of unique password is generated, and you download the DRM-free files.

Annual fee, $20 - 40
Artist subsidy. In return for underwriting my work, you receive all music as it is completed, as well as exclusive content (video, artwork, stuff from my storage space). When tours are scheduled, additional consideration at each venue (VIP seating, etc.). ]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:32:41 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/popemark/iblog/C2041067432/E20071002233241/index.html